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Great insights from Adam Gopnik. Loved these passages, near the end of the article, especially regarding a technology's descent from omnipresence to ...just something:
QUOTE
Now television [once the object of jeremiads about the disintegration of modern life] is the harmless little fireplace over in the corner, where the family gathers to watch “Entourage.” TV isn’t just docile; it’s positively benevolent. This makes you think that what made television so evil back when it was evil was not its essence but its omnipresence. Once it is not everything, it can be merely something. The real demon in the machine is the tirelessness of the user. A meatless Monday has advantages over enforced vegetarianism, because it helps release the pressure on the food system without making undue demands on the eaters. In the same way, an unplugged Sunday is a better idea than turning off the Internet completely, since it demonstrates that we can get along just fine without the screens, if only for a day.
UNQUOTE
And: "Thoughts are bigger than the things that deliver them." Truer words (etc etc)...

adam_gopnik newyorker internet socialcritique